10 Reasons why 2017 was A Good Year for me as a Bookworm/Writer/Book Blogger (Let’s focus on the good things shall we?)

I would like to highlight all the AMAZING things that happened to me, the bookworm! And yes! There were. a. lot. of. bad. things. BUT THERE WERE ALSO GOOD THINGS! Right? I mean it can’t have all been bad. I mean, A whisper of Ink was launched, how more awesome do you need your year to get?

I really want to share the positive in this post because 2017 has been a year for ups and downs. But let’s focus on the ups and sharing good vibes and ice cream. Your welcome.

ME

1. I read some wonderful diverse/ #ownvoices books

Now I do think I don’t read diversly ENOUGH but I did read some AMAZING new favourites and they’re beautifully diverse so go read them. I absolutely LOVE these titles and will devour them forever. I’ve narrowed it down to 10 books which was quite difficult but here you go

2. I received my first ARCs!

Now I won’t list all of the ARCs I’ve been receiving lately because heck, THAT WOULD BE A LOT. But my first ARC was Love, Hate and Other Filters. And while the book was a disappointment, receiving was absolutely amazing and it meant the WORLD to me.

3. I launched A Whisper Of Ink and couldn’t be prouder.

My former blog, My Bookish Life, was okay. But I was left feeling rubbish about it for a very long time. I am SO glad that I managed to make the decision to move and I love the design and just everything! I feel so much better going by a pen name and just ahh, it’s been great okay?

4. I met so many unimaginably wonderful people.

Don’t take it lightly when I say I’ve met the best blogger friends. They’ve been with me through a lot of things and just supported me so much. They’ve made me so happy and we’ve had the best jokes and they’ve given me a fabulous 2017. A quick shout out to May @ Forever and Everly, Ju @ Blots of Ink and Words, Jackie @ Too much of a Book Nerd, Lia @ Lost In A story, Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane books, Cait @ PaperFury, Ioana @ DragonWaffles and Swetlana, Sasha, Farhina; honestly this would go on for ages! Just know that I appreciate every comment I get and know that I LOVE ALL OF YOU OKAY?!

Thanks to these people, I got to be me. I got to come out to you guys about a lot of things, I managed to come to terms with who I am my religion, my race and all of you have made me feel so accepted and comfortable here and you don’t know how much that means to me. Gosh, these are not tears. Are they? MY EYES ARE JUST SWEATING, I SWEAR.

5. I finished my first WIP

To be honest, this was one of my biggest achievements this year and I am BEYOND HAPPY WITH MYSELF. I’m so proud and just…WOW, I am impressed okay? I didn’t know that I was capable of this and finishing a novel shows me that I can do anything If I put my mind to it.

Now, up until a few months ago, I had NEVER ever got a compliment on my photos before but lo and behold PEOPLE MIGHT ACTUALLY LIKE THEM. I just…wow. THANK YOU, GUYS. Here’s a quick look at my progress. The bottom two are map appreciation because you can never love maps too much. Fact. Don’t question me.

AFTER

8. Reaching 1000 followers

I know, I know. Stats shouldn’t mean everything but YOU CANNOT DENY HOW FLABBERGASTINGLY AWESOME THIS IS? like 1000 people. like sure, half these followers are probably weird old bats living in their basements but still!! This is a huge, huge milestones and I just want to take a moment to thank every single follower. Even if you’re a bot.

9. I completed my 2017 reading challenge like a boss.

Do you hear the round of applause? Do you see the standing ovation? yes, my dear pineapple, YOU DO. Becuase I read 100 books this year. Well, 113 books if you are being a precise penguin, but I digress. ONE HUNDRED BOOKS. for some of you that might be a wild dream and for some of you that one hundred books is an accident but either way, I AM SO HAPPY I managed to reach my goal!

10. I ran out of bookshelf space

THIS WAS A GOOD THING OKAY? But seriously, I’ve seen people crying about their bookshelves and just wished, WISHED, I owned that many books. AND NOW I DO. Muahahhahahahahahhhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahahha. Okay, I’m done.

So see? 2017 was my year for taking over the world, brownies, and being sappy.

And lots of other wonderful things happened but I am goldfish and penguin as well as many other things. #goals

Credit to my bestie, May, for inspiration for this fabulous post that you obviously enjoyed reading! 🙂 What were your highlights of 2017? What milestones did you reach? What exciting things happened this year! Are you glad 2017 is over? (yes) Spread the positivity!

51 thoughts on “10 Reasons why 2017 was A Good Year for me as a Bookworm/Writer/Book Blogger (Let’s focus on the good things shall we?)”

This is such a lovely post! I mean, I think we all know that 2017 wasn’t a good year (at all), but focusing on the bright side sounds like a good plan. And we did get a lot of amazing books! 😊
The Shades of Magic series belongs to my favourite series ever and I’m so happy I got to read it this year. I also have The Accident Season on my tbr which sounds strange and magical and amazing!
Also, congrats on finishing your NaNo novel, that’s such a huge accomplishment 😍

WE DID GET A TONNE OF GOOD BOOKS! And I AM SO HAPPY FOR THAT. And omg Kell and Lila and Alucard and RHY and H O L L A N D OMG HOLLAND. UGH I LOVE THEM ALLLLLLL. The Accident Season is fo fantasically strange and you will ADORE IT. hopefully. Thanks so much, NaNo was awesome!

Holland is my fave and I’m gonna love him forever tbh 😍
It’s definitely on my tbr for January, because it really sounds strange in the best way possible 😊
I always want to do NaNo, but when November is near I never have time 😭😭 but maybe 2018 is gonna be my year 💪

This is such a great post, and even though 2017 was the year of the reading slump, I still managed to pick up some favorites like, I’ll Give You the Sun. IGYTS is like one of my favorites ever and it makes me so excited whenever I see people who like it too??

Ahh this is such a great and positive post, I LOVE IT so much. And not only because you mentioned me, but maybe a little bit. Also, I swear I’m not crying, I got something in my eyes but YOU ARE MAKING ME EMOTIONAL OKAY ❤ Thank you so, so much or just… being here, seriously you are such an amazing blogging friend and I am SO happy to have met you and PROUD of your accomplishments, like, wow, you're so famous???
Here is to many, many accomplishments and success coming in 2018 !! ❤

Ummmm thank you Marie!! and OF COURSE I MENTIONED YOU! What did you expect!??!?! Your FABULOUS. And ahh her’es a tissue. XD AND AGH NOW I’M THE ONE WHO’S EMOTIONAL WHAT THE HECK. I swear I have heart of steel. *sobs in the corner* you ARE SO NICE!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH for being with me on my blogging journey you’re awesome. You’ve motivated me so much with how amazingly kind you are. MARIEEEEE ❤

YAYY ALL THE POSITIVITY!! It was lovely to read this, unfortunate I’ve been dwelling so much on the negatives 2017 has brought me that I’ve practically forgotten the positives which obviously sucks. This post has reminded me to try and remember the highlights, as hard as it might be! It was so uplifting to read the highlights of your year reading, writing and book blogging wise Ilsa!😊❤

AHH HII JASMINE!! AND YES ALL THE POSITIVITY. Not like I’m planning some world domination in the back garden here. XD ahh I’m SO sorry 2017 wasn’t amazing for you! And I’m glad this was somewhat uplifting!!!! My job here is done.

“2017 was the equivalent of a foot stepping on a Lego” I’ve been looking for a phrase to describe 2017 and this fits perfectly XD But it sounds like you had a pretty good year overall! 🙂
2017 has had a lot of ups and downs for me, I’m glad it’s nearly 2018 tbh

Aweeee ok now I’m feeling better because I’ve been kinda down these last weeks so THANK YOUUU!!

This year was more like stepping on a lego house with my face but THE AMAZING BLOGGING FRIENDS I’VE MADE (IT YOUUU) ARE DEFINITELY THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY YEAR and I am extremely grateful. AND OMG SERIOUSLY YOU’RE MAKING ME SAPPY I’M SO HAPPY YOU’RE HAPPY AND YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE ❤!!

I ALSO LOVE YOUR AMAZINGLY FABULOUS BLOG LOOK HOW MUCH WE’VE GOT IN COMMON!! A Whisper of Ink? Amazing, beautiful, perfect, the best thing that has happened since humans put ice cream on waffles. And all the congrats on 1000 followers *jazz hands*!!! That’s…a small army…hmmMMmmm. And the bots should be glad they have your posts in their reader just sayin’.

And omg I feel like a proud parent over your book seriously. (Is that weird? Can I be the honorary weird aunt??) When you’re a famous best-selling author I can say that I HAVE WATCHED IT ALL UNFOLD ON TWITTER AND I’VE BEEN THERE FROM THE FIRST AESTHETICS!!

Well this year was like someone attacking me all the lego but you know AND OMG YOUR LIKE ONE OF MY FAVE BLOGS EVER I JUST LOVE YOUR BLOG AND YOU SM. I COULD SCREECH ABOUT FOREVER. *melts* You’re too kind.

And YESSSSss I’m hoping to expan my 1000 follower army soon. Need to add in more bots. In other NEWS, I’m nearly @ 1500 WHICH IS EXCITING.

You may be the weird aunt of my novel. BUT WHAT? FAMOUS BEST-SELLING AUTHOR. I think we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves now.

DESPITE ALL THE POOP OF THIS YEAR, IT SOUNDS LIKE IT WAS AMAZING FOR YOU AND IM VERY HAPPY FOR THAT
i’d like to mention
1) your photography was always on point
2) girl you killing it with those stats
3) ITS SNOWING ON YOUR BLOG HOW DID YOU DO THAT

anyways, i hope the rest of the year is fantastic for you and next year is even better. ❤

OMG MAY YOU ARE SO FANTASTIC AND AWESOME and…*hugs* are you a hugging person?
1) OMG WHAT?! My photography is STIL slightly horrible
2) OMGTHANK YOUUUU
3)Oh um the SNOW? I went to MY sites –> “settings” and you should see a snow option somehwere

This was amazing!! I’m so glad this year went good for you! Congrats on 1000 followers, you deserve them so much, you beautiful human being!!!!! 😀 ❤
Also, congrats on your reading challenge, 100 books is a great number, it's like 1000000000 times what I've read lol 😛
Merry Christmas btw! 🙂

Congrats on your accomplishments this year!! 🍀🍀
The only (reading) milestone I’ve reached this year is I’m branching out into French fiction! I read 3 French books this semester and even though I only liked 1, I’m still proud of myself!

Just found your blog and this post is a delight! Sounds like you had such a great year! Congrats on finishing your WIP! I wish my NaNo had gone half as well, but there’s always next year. Here’s to more great books in 2018!

LOVED READING THIS!! Lol I haven’t been so active on the blogger community to share these accomplishments with you, but seriously congrats! Your blog will always be first and foremost one of my favorite blogs to read ever! I think I only logged in to WP for your blog and Sasha’s 😉

fdjslkfjalsd I’m so happy you launched AWOI!!! I mean, MBL was a pretty great blog imo, but I think AWOI took it a step up & is a much improved version of MBL!

AAGGGHHH I’m glad I met you toooooo ❤ ❤ and I'm so glad you've come to terms with your identity. this year I've actually discovered new parts about my identity that I'm currently contemplating with & freaking out over — but I mean, better to discover it than not know about it imo.

I'M SO GLAD YOU FINISHED YOUR FIRST WIP!!! we're twins. and THAT "AFTER" PIC OF THE BOOK MAPS IS SO PRETTY AAAGGGHHHH

oh my god you read 113 books???? I freaking hate you. tho to be fair, I didn't have a GR account until the end of May, which was pretty much halfway through the year sooooooo. AND YES TO THE BOOKSHELF THING. except I ran out of bookshelf space because most of the books that are there are really crappy/cringy YA/MG books. but it's fine!!! whatever!!!

THE WREN HUNT FROM BLOOBSMBURY YES AND IT’S *GOLD* AND YES I TOLD YOU ABOUT ACE. AND OMFG I@LL SENND YOU ScRESNHOTs of when i told u about To Kill a Kingdom but at that time u were like “Idk what book that is but im happy for you!!!” dont lie